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San Jose’s Annual Film Festival Returns

Silicon Valley’s film festival gem, Cinequest, announced this year’s movie line up with an impressive roster of Hollywood stars that will grace the Bay Area beginning February 27 through March 11. (Published Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018)

Silicon Valley’s film festival gem, Cinequest, announced this year’s movie line up with an impressive roster of Hollywood stars that will grace the Bay Area beginning February 27 through March 11.

Cinequest takes pride as being an organization that seeks to create and connect audiences with the art of cinema and technology, so it’s only natural that the festival will not only feature 228 films from around the world, but it will also have 29 virtual reality experiences.

Cinequest’s opening night starts off with William H. Macy who will join the festival at the California Theatre to screen a film he directed and starred in called “Krystal.” The film, about a sheltered young man who develops a crush on a stripper, stars Rosario Dawson, Nick Robinson, Kathy Bates and Felicity Huffman. After the screening, Macy will have a conversation about the film alongside select cast and crew.

During the 13-day festival, Bay Area audiences can expect to see a variety of films with big names like Shia LaBeouf (“Borg McEnroe”), James McAvoy (“Submergence”), Burt Reynolds (“The Last Movie Star”), Michelle Pfeiffer (“Where is Kyra?”), Peter Fonda (“You Can’t Say No”), Hilary Swank (“What They Had”) and more.

Cinequest will also host a handful of Hollywood stars at San Jose’s California Theatre to honor with the prestigious Maverick Spirit Award, which includes Tatiana Maslany, Tom Cullen, Andie MacDowell and John Travolta.

The closing night film will be the documentary “Brothers in Arms” about the making of Oliver Stone’s “Platoon” directed by Paul Sanchez and narrated by Charlie Sheen. Both Sanchez and Sheen will join the festival for a discussion on the film.

The festival will also feature an abundance of Bay Area original films like “From Baghdad to the Bay,” a documentary about an Iraqi gay man and former U.S. military translator struggling to adjust his life in America; “Adios Amor,” an investigative documentary about the search for a long-forgotten migrant worker who sacrificed everything to organize California’s migrant farm workers half a century ago; and “Pick of the Litter,” a story that follows a litter of pups groomed to become guide dogs for the blind.

As far as virtual reality goes, moviegoers can experience the innovative films made with virtual reality from March 1 - 4.